Results tagged “automakers”

President Barack Obama suggested that "controlled bankruptcy" might be how automakers GM and Chrysler are saved. The Wall Street Journal explains the government could "divide their 'good' and 'bad' assets" and then "bankruptcy [would] purge their biggest problems." Chrsyler was given 30 days to try to restructure on its own, while GM was given 60 days; Obama said, "It will require unions and workers who have already made painful concessions to make even more. It will require creditors to recognize that they cannot hold out for the prospect of endless government bailouts." GM would prefer to avoid bankruptcy, but said it "will take whatever steps are necessary to successfully restructure the company, which could include a court-supervised process." A Times editorial says Obama's auto team's plan seems like "the best shot we have at obtaining a viable auto industry." And the Detroit Free-Press looks at why Ford execs are smiling.

News that AT&T will cut 12,000 jobs--or 4% of its workforce--due to "economic pressures, a changing business mix and a more streamlined organizational structure," and DuPont will cut 2,500 employees is sending stock futures down, along with lower earnings forecasts from Merck, Nokia, and Credit Suisse. GM, Ford and Chrysler are headed back to D.C. to ask for a $34 billion bailout. And the Labor Department revealed that jobless claims fell "unexpectedly" by 21,000 (as in the actual jobless claims were 21,000 less than expected) last week, but that still means there were 509,000 jobless claims: "The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, a better gauge of underlying labor trends because it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 524,500 from 518,250 the week before, the highest since the week of Dec. 18, 1982, when a reading of 554,500 was recorded."

David Axelrod, senior adviser to President-elect Barack Obama, tells George Stephanopoulos on This Week that before U.S. automakers can get a federal bailout, the companies must deliver a plan on how the money will be used. Axelrod said, "We all have a stake in the survival of the auto industry in order to do that they have to retool," and says Obama hopes the Big Three will return to D.C. next month with a plan. "If they can't do that then there is very little tax payers can do... [Obama] has said from the beginning that we need to help but we can't give a blank check." Axelrod added, "I hope automakers come back to Congress, hopefully on commercial flights," referring to how GM, Ford, and Chrysler CEOs flew to DC this past week on separate private planes.